Through the first six matches Saturday night at Rec Hall, everything went as well as Lock Haven Coach Neil Turner could have asked.

Maybe even better. Turner's squad led third-ranked Penn State, 11-9, and had two-time All-American Brad Lloyd, the top-ranked 177-pound wrestler in the country, on deck. A fired-up Craig Corbin pulled off a mild upset over Ken Chertow at 118, and Anthony Melfi scored two takedowns in the final minute to decision Rob Meloy at 142.

Perhaps more importantly, Lock Haven had momentum on its side for most of the evening.

But Jason Suter turned that momentum around 180 degrees when he threw Jeff Karam to his back with a headlock in the first minute of their 167-pound match. The throw brought the 5,858 fans who packed Rec Hall to their feet, and when Suter stuck Karam at the 1:22 mark the crowd erupted with applause.

The fall gave Penn State its largest lead of the night, 15-11, and the bonus points turned out to be the difference in the meet as the Lions squeaked past Lock Haven, 20-19.

"He hit a head-inside single leg and when he came up with it, I shoved his head to the outside," Suter explained. "He lifted me in the air and held me up for a while, and as he brought me down I hipped into him with a neck wrench and ended up on top when he was on his back.

"I had a really tight half, and I just held it there for the fall."

"Suter took advantage of the situation," Turner said. "I'm proud of the young men, even Jeff Karam, and I told him, 'Just suck it up and get dressed because better guys than you have gotten thrown with that.' "

"That fall at 167 was a blessing in disguise," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "Karam's dangerous in that position, and he got in it. We needed a lift after Meloy's and Bevilacqua's matches, and Finkbeiner (a winner at 158) and Suter gave it to us."

Suter, who won the Ridge Riley award as the meet's most outstanding wrestler, recalled some pre-meet advice from Graduate Assistant Coach Greg Elinsky.

"Before the meet, Greg came up to me and told me to go out there and wrestle my own match," Suter said. "He told me not to worry about the score, but just go out there and have fun and win."

Obviously, it worked.

Suter, who improved his record to 23-10 with the pin, admitted he was excited for the match.

"I try to get fired-up, but you've got to watch that you don't get overly psyched for a match like this because if you go out and do something dumb it could cost you the whole match," Suter said.

With the Eastern Wrestling League Tournament less than two weeks away and the NCAA's fast approaching, Suter thinks he and the rest of the Lions are approaching top form.

"I feel really good; we've been having two-a-day practices, and I think as a team we're all ready to go at any moment," he said. "We were looking forward to this match, but we were also looking forward to the nationals and the Easterns."